"It's a family-friendly event for everybody," said Jennifer Waldrup, a festival coordinator. "We're going to have beautiful weather, lots of great entertainment, all kinds of good food, wonderful crafts, children's activities — so lots to do for everybody."

Food truck vendor Charlie Haley said he is selling a special type of funnel cake he created — a red velvet funnel cake. Haley said he and his wife tweaked an old-fashioned cake recipe to find the perfect consistency for the funnel cake batter. After taste-testing their creation, he said they practically licked the plate.

Haley said they now cook the fried delicacies all day long in their food truck. Once the funnel cakes are fried, he drizzles them with warm cream cheese icing — a finishing touch he described as "pure Southern."

"Usually when you cook it so much, you don't eat it anymore," Haley noted. "(But) we'll still sit down and eat one. It's that good."

This year's festival marks the first for food vendor Veronica Davis, who came prepared with a variety of personalized deep-fried items to sell. In addition to deep-fried salsa, cookie dough and watermelon, Davis is offering fried red velvet chicken — coated in a crispy cake-and-buttermilk crust.

"It gives it a different sort of taste, but not like a red velvet cake," Davis said, noting that the chicken tasted only slightly sweet.

In addition to food vendors, the festival includes:

• A disc golf tournament at 9 a.m. at Recreation Park.

• A corn hole tournament from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on University Drive.

• Aunt Bea's Southern Fried Throw-Down Competition at 11 a.m.

• A dog show at 6:30 p.m.

Live music includes performances from The King Beez Band, as well as Miss Tennessee's Outstanding Teen 2014 Lexie Perry.

Between 3,000 and 5,000 festival attendees are expected this weekend, Waldrup said. The money made from the festival will go toward restoring the Park Theater on the square.